Womens Basketball Game

I've been a little behind in my blogging these days! A couple of weeks ago I got to go on another field trip. We went to see a local Women's Professional Basketball team. It was kids day at the arena so there were all kinds of activities going on. Here's a pic of the opening tip off:
















Kid's day is always the macots birthday. So they invited all the mascots from the other teams to come and celebrate the special day.














During halftime, they played a game of dodgeball. Macots against the kids. (And OH BOY do those Mascots cheat!) Our home team Mascot shortened the kids side of the dodgeball ring to about two feet! LOL

Fun California

I had to share the pictures that Miss K. text me this weekend:

After much begging and pleading, and very a descriptive speech of all the possible consequences, we figured we would let her make her own decision and live with it!

Kangaroo Farm

I got to go on a field trip with the school aged kids at the daycare. How cool is it to go on a field trip, and get paid for it! We went to a kangaroo farm. But the best part of the trip was feeding the llamas. They give you pellet sticks to feed them, but there is a catch. You have to put the pellet stick between your lips and let the llamas take it from you! (see the horror on my face because the llama lips touched mine~)















And then tomorrow afternoon I get to take my two oldest babies to the airport and send them on a plane to California! They are gonna be gone for three whole weeks. Right now I am so busy getting them ready to go, that I can't quiet process my feelings. But, tomorrow, at the airport, I know I'm gonna be a wreck! But it will be a good trip for the kids. Everyone is excited to see the kids. And Little Man will just have to suffer through lots of extra personal attention while his siblings are gone. OH DARN!

Touring Seattle

Preschool Graduating Class of 2008

Busy People

That's the way it seems to be as the school year comes to a close. The kids all have final concerts and award ceremonies. Little Man is gonna be graduating preschool later this week. And the BIG NEWS is - the older two kids are book on a flight to California for the summer. Well, at least for the month of July. Excited and terrified at the same time! I know I will be a nervous wreak when the time comes, but right now we are too busy to think about.



Hubby and I have been trimming down some the unruly hedges that surround the backyard. Proud to say that all the hedges are down to the 10 foot level, or lower. Last weekend we rented a wood chipper to take care of all the branches that were covering the backyard. All of my plant beds are now getting a fresh layer of bark and mulch - HOMEMADE! Yeah me! I've also been ripping out some of the plants I don't care for and transplanting all the plants that I have been growing in small containers. (Peppermint and Chamomile this week.)



We have also begun renovations on the hall bathroom. Half the ceiling is now gone as well as half the vanity. Next step, moving around the plumbing so we can relocate a few key components of the bathroom. We are planning little by little and hope to have is done by the end of summer. Once we get some study, summer like weather up here we have some painting to do to finish up the last projects we started!

And last, at least for this post, I had to share some puppy pics. We had her groomed and bought her a summer dress. Then I finally got her to wear the hats I bought at Disneyworld! Isn't it just adorable!

Say Hello To Our New Backyard Tenant

First time for everything!

I had my FIRST EVER car accident yesterday. We are all okay. No injuries. (I had all three kids in the car with me at the time.) There I was, sitting at a red light, waiting for the left turn arrow and another car made the right turn too quickly, hopped the center median, and smacked into the back of my van. And oh the drama that followed. And I know there is more to come.

Parent Conferences

We had parent conferences last night. The kids had to make presentations about what they learned during the year, what their challenges were, and why they are ready to go to the next grade level. Miss K. made a powerpoint presentation. She did an excellent job. Her teacher has been very impressed with her this year. The presentation included this two poems that Miss K. has written herself. I thought they were so great I just had to share them!

I AM

I am an energetic and sporty teenager.

I wonder if the world will ever disappear.

I hear the cries of people who lost ones from the war,

I am an energetic and sporty teenager.

I pretend to listen to people when I really don't.

I feel like I am lonely and abandoned.

I worry that my grandmother will breathe her last breathe.

I try not to be mean to my friends.

I am an energetic ad sporty teenager.

I understand that I will never be able to help people stop their cry's from their hearts.

I say that I will never be a bad kid.

I dream that I will soon be able to stop the

I try to be respectful.

I hope to have an expectable childhood.

I am an energetic and sporty teenager.

SEVENTH GRADE

Trouble makers

Excited to see a hit guy.

Enlightened to be at school.

Never want to get in trouble again.

Always have something to do.

Great to be ourselves.

Evergreen Timber Wolves.

Respectful to most people.

Guess who is going to be the new teacher!

Yes, that's right. I got a promotion at work! (YEAH ME!) Starting tomorrow I will be the new teacher - NOT ASSISTANT - of the room that is one age level above where I am now. And if I could have any room to teach in, that would be the one I choose. I love my babies in the room I have been in, but it seems like when they just start getting fun and interactive its time for them to move up! I have been where I am long enough that almost all the kids in my new room have graduated from current room. So its like thw whole gangs back together again! I've been busy all weekend trying to fill out my cirriculum and get some art projects prepared. (the old teacher left quite suddenly and took EVERYTHING with her!) We also have picture day this week, so I am going to get a nice class picture with me as a teacher on my first week! (Perfect timing!) Here's to an awesome new week!

I Got A Dining Room Table!

We have not had a dining table since moving to Washington. The one we had in Cali was too small for the whole family so we just left it behind. In the apartment we used the patio table for a dining table, since we had no patio. (And since had nothing to put in the dining room it has been the temporary location for the foosball table!)
BEFORE:




















AFTER:

Comic Convention

We got to spend a few hours this weekend at the Comicon Convention is Seattle. The kids really loved walking about the different exhibits, just kinda getting the feel for stuff that they are just starting to show an interest in. Seeing all the costumes was quite the experience too.



















They even had some celebrity autograph sessions going on. Can you guess who this is? (I can so remember - back in the day - having posters of this teenage heart throb all over my bedroom walls!)














{in the picture above is Wil Wheaton}
Both of the older kids got some new manga books - and they were both lucky enough to have the creators there to autograph the books for them. I missed Miss K.'s autograph, but here is one of Mr. A. (He was very shy and wouldn't really talk to they guy.)

Friday Night Go Karts

We found a Go Kart racing track near by. The offer a training class for the pre-teens (11 and up) so that they can race on the adult track. They even get driving licenses for return visits. We took the kids over the class and then they hubby and a friend of ours joined them in a second race. They even had little electric cars for Little Man to race in (although he choose to go alone on the track!) Once Little Man turns 6, they have small gas powered go karts, similar to the adult ones, that he can try. And they do birthday parties - I am so seeing a few parties here in the future!



















On Saturday, Little Man went to a birthday party at a gymnastic center. The party was short a few kids for the minimum so the host let the older two join in also! Miss K was very fascinated by a couple of the prefessional girls that were practicing there. Little Man was just the cutest thing ever trying out the hoola hoops. I had to make a video of it. I am determined to go get him a hoola hoop now!

I'm buried and I can't get out!

Actually it was hard enough just getting home. I'm not even gonna attempt to try to go anywhere now. But this is what I had to come home too.



















This is the neighborhood kids group effort snow ball!

Beautiful Saturday

We just couldn't have asked for a more perfect day! The weather was BEAUTIFUL. Hubby and I had so much at the wine tasting event. (We are getting ready to head out for day 2!) I have pretty much come to the conclusion that I just dont like red wines. But I did come home with a few bottles of whites














We came home from the tasting to find this going on in our backyard ~ yes the kids are playing in the hose. (Can hardly tell it had snowed a couple of weeks ago!)















While relaxing in the backyard watcing the kids, I noticed by beautiful, blooming fruit trees! The first is our Japanese apple-pear tree, which shuld have some fruit on it in the last summer. And the second is the plum tree, which should have pickable fruit by June.